In general, a computer has an auxiliary memory device as an auxiliary means for a main memory device and records a large amount of data in the auxiliary memory device. For such an auxiliary memory device, a magnetic disk, a magnetic tape, a floppy disk, an optical disk or the like may be employed. A personal computer usually employs a hard disk drive, which incorporates at least one magnetic disk, as an auxiliary memory device.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view schematically showing a conventional hard disk drive.
Referring to FIG. 1, the conventional hard disk drive includes a housing 10, a magnetic disk 20 which is a recording medium provided within the housing 10 (herein below, the magnetic disk is referred to as “disk”), a spindle motor 30 mounted on a base plate 11 of the housing 10 so as to rotate the disk 20, and a head gimbals assembly 40 having a magnetic head 41 for recording/reproducing data.
The housing 10 is provided within the main body of the computer, wherein the housing 10 consists of a base plate 11 for supporting the spindle motor 30 and the head gimbals assembly 40, and a cover plate 12 mounted on the top of the base plate 11 so as to cover and protect a disk or the like.
The disk 20 is a recording medium for recording data, wherein one disk or two or more disks, which are spaced from each other, are installed in such a manner as to be rotated by the spindle motor 30.
The head gimbals assembly 40 includes a head gimbals body mounted to be rotatable about a rotary axis 35 provided on the base plate 11, and a suspension 43, on which a magnetic head 41 is mounted for recording information in/reproducing from the disk 20, wherein the suspension 43 extends from one end of the head gimbals body and a coil rotator 47 for rotating the head gimbals body extends from the other end of the head gimbals assembly.
In the conventional hard disk drive, due to an aerodynamic action between the magnetic head rotating about the pivot hole 45 and the disk 20 rotated by the spindle motor 30, the magnetic disk 41 flies and moves on the surface of the disk 20 while the disk 20 is rotating.
A conventional hard disk drive may be provided with one disk or a plurality of disks. In particular, although such a conventional hard disk drive has been provided with a plurality of disks so as to increase data storage capacity, there has been recently proposed a method of greatly increasing the recording density of a disk so as to allow a sufficiently large amount of data to be stored even if a small number of disks are employed.
For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,199,090 and 6,404,706 disklose a method for recording data in a disk with a high density by supplying heat to a magnetic head for recording/reproducing data by using a laser diode.